The first ASOS Challenge was successful in the sense that it taught us a few lessons on investment timing. Only three of 11 shares ended in profit and that included ASOS itself: congratulations to legend for BNH and bosley for SEO. Back to the drawing board for the rest of us (over the year the portfolio would have thrashed any opposition!).

Participants welcome for the second challenge. Primary objective is to find shares that will double in value by 1st July, beating ASC in the process; secondary to be most successful stock-picker in terms of the value of your 20K portfolio. Rules are:

1.Each participant has 20K which can go into 1,2,3 or 4 shares in units of 5K.
2.ASC has 20K and is team yardstick, not in individual portfolios.
3.Duplication between entrants OK with no upper limit for total for one share.
4.Start weekend of 21st Jan. Buy price half way between closing offer and mid.
5.Latest time of entry to be 8 pm on Sunday, 23rd Jan.
6.Challenge to close Friday, 1st July.
7.Entrants can switch up to a total of 10K; av. of Friday close bid and mid.
8.Progress reports to rank shares by performance but also participants (initial only to protect from the ridicule of outsiders!).

Participants welcome. Just post selection here or on ASC thread.

Eric

Hi Eric,

great job by the way and thanks for taking time out to do this, i actually find shares quite boring (but hopefully profitable one day) and things like this really do add interest.

Im qiute new to all this and have quite lazy approach (mainly due to time) but would like to share how i do things. Sorry about my ignorance but could you give us a quick explanation of what you mean, 'fundamentals' and 'technical analysis' ive looked in my Alvin Hall book and cant find it.

Most of my shares a quite speculative, where i read as much evidence/background as i can and then make a judgement on whether there is a future for that product. Im not one for studying charts, who is buying or selling etc, moving averages and all that jargon though im sure it works for many.

Transense Technologies TRT for instance make Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems and Surface Acoustic Wave sensor systems for the automotive industry (see more at www.transense.co.uk). It is one i noticed about 5 years ago and a lot of these systems are a legal requirement in every vehicle in the US if that happens in this country it could fly. The SP just keeps going up on very little news and trading, so hopefully being bought by those in the know. LIcense agreement not longed been signed with Honeywell and the promise of more. To me its a matter of when not if.

Will post more thoughts at a later date when i know more about TA and F cheeres bye for now.

John thank you for your excellent work it's a great help. have you looked at GMC it's really breaking out. cheers MP

Kivver: I'll leave that to our guru, johngtudor. Alternatively, drop me a message with some specific questions. Some readers would be bored here to have to look trough what they already know.

moneyplus: here you go again, keep finding you promoting GMC! Have had a look. Seems to say that they do the portal - does that mean they don't actually provide the poker game but make their money on these wretched advertising clicks which keep getting under your fingers! Seems they do tsome gaming themselves although not profitable for year to September. But they do seem to be pressing the right buttons and still quite low cap. althoug up 4 times in a month. Tempted to have a flutter!

Another request for players to give some fundamentals on their shares. Brief summary of what they do. Why hold? What is the potential? Key dates.

Eric

For myself ("U"), I have 50% Stanelco (SEO) which you, especially, Eric, already know about - and a lot more than myself!!!!!

My other 50% is Kryso (KYS) which is basically an exploration co based in Tajikistan "with assets in mining properties and management know-how which is rapidly reaching the stage of reporting feasibility details, beginning April/May 05 [unquote].....". Prior to recent listing it was approximately 3 times oversubscribed by the institutions having taken over where other companies left off due to lack of finance and technical capabilities in bygone years. Previous feasibilities studies and popular respected opinion suggests that the region is hugely rich in gold and precious ores. Kryso plans to explore gold, silver and these other ores and to continue exploring all year round without stoppage for weather conditions. So there you have it - my first ever "ramp" but I fully expect to win this ASOS Challenge in the Summer!

Cheers, Kus.

Hi Eric-I have gone through the GMC website and they have their fingers in so many pies it's difficult to put it all down! The website is well worth a good look through but basically they promote gambling on other websites for other companies such as betfair and william hill collecting fees per click. they also own and operate play casino.co.uk the no 1 site for punters each week according to hitwise the click monitors, they also own and operate instant casino and find poker.com. poker is set to be worth in excess of 1.2 billion dollars so they hope to capture a good slice of the market there are various other sites on their web page all to do with some form of gambling. They also own the recently acquired eyeconomy ltd. an online leading advertising and media company.
So I feel they don't have all their eggs in one basket rather like YOO. the sp has done well so may now take a breather until the results come out end of April I think. This is a very young company and could take off like ASC but maybe not for a while. I am excited about it but don't want to appear a ramper as I intend to hold for at least two years.
Golly this is hard work---time for bed I think and hope for a good day on the markets tomorrow. CFP and PXC are letting me down so far this year.
Stock Dog seems to find some interesting shares I am watching them, not bad for a woofer! cheers MP

Hi MP - Thanks for that. Mustn't do this compulsive internet stuff into the early hours - I suspect thats how you pick up all these hot leads though. Had a nibble at GMC this morning. Not everyone may pick up what a portal is - basically a site which has as its primary purpose to advertise for other sites and allow you to access them by a click on an icon. What I like about MP's summary is that they get paid for every click. I expect they cunningly direct attention to their own sites so they get the gamblers money as well. Sort of share that could become another NETeller. The odds on that are probably much better than a gamble and unlikely to lose your money.

As for stockdog, like many woofers he is always finding new ports of call! Suggest he comes to heel more and follows his mistress, could be you (!), to focus on the juciest opportunities. Hope you survive today's carnage.

Eric

Hi Eric--not happy today at all but it had to happen!! My night time ways are about to be seriously disrupted as I have to go in for a knee replacement tomorrow morning--I'm expecting serious withdrawal symptoms!! I have decided to leave my portfolio in the lap of the gods rather than sell out may be wrong but who knows! I can't leave my husband to look after it he loses his nerve and sells at the first dip! As he is a very early morning person 0530 up I've tried to persuade him into spreadbetting but he's much too cautious. I think he's expecting me to change my nocturnal ways after a hospital regime as we don't communicate for a fair bit of the day--he works for a living as well! Much more fun to play the markets I think. cheers MP

Hi mp. That's a lovely insight - hubs in bed early and up by 5.30 a.m.; wifey in bed late at 1.30 a.m. and up by I don't know when; unless you have kids to get to school? Hope the op. goes well; I hope it isn't arthritis. But they are so skilled these days and the technology is so good. From what I have seen of your portfolio, I wouldn't worry too much. Mind you could take a laptop in but that mightn't be good for the nurses pulses! But I would close the spreadbets; I wouldn't be too comfortable with my CFDs and suspect I would close half of them and put the money in the building account.

All the best, Eric

Thanks Eric- children all flown the nest and granddaughter due in June that's why I decided to get the knees fixed! Yes it is arthritis probably from sitting in front of the computer too much!

mp Sympathise but feel that the op will help the agility and give improved quality of life. Snap! grandchild due July although parents don't want to know sex - due on my birthday, 11th July which would be great! KJeep us posted on progress. Eric

As requested EW

The BGT bubble will be on show at the toy fair this week. It is retailing for around 59 as far as I understand. Has had a retracement today due to announcement of a placing... Pretty sure that this will be lapped up and that the price will not be much lower than the bid price of 166.. So will show good support for a share that will have risen over 100% in the last few weeks. I am looking to add alot more as this concept should have a great deal of appeal and is beginning to get the city very excited as the guys who run it are very well respected annd tend to deliver what they promise (so I have been told)
This bubble has no wires and is geared for preschool children. It is an interactive game which only needs the use of a dvd player or playstation or xbox. Children can watch their favorite programmes which range from teletubbies, to thomas the tank. (You name it BGT have the rights to use it) When their favorite character asks them to do something , they can , so the kids feel part of the action. It is also aimed to be educational , teaching the kids through their favorite programmes basic concepts that children need to learn. Think the potential is huge. Know of some kids who trialled it and it was a HUGE success with both them and the parents

Good luck money plus... I know about knees. Have had six operations on them and now need a knee replacement. They won't give me one yet as they said I am too young. My knees are shot from sport and associated accidents:-(
Hard when I have 3 sporty kids and they want to run, play tennis etc with me and i can't! You will feel much better after it but you will have to work HARD at your quad exercises given by the phsio

Will do-we can compare notes. Does your wife get cross at the amount of time you spend on here--my husband does I'm sure his nose is put out as he calls me Geek etc! while waiting for his meal LOL! Anyway I must go out now as my last bid for freedom and I'm supposed to have a hair salon to run...occasionally.

moneyplus.... I am a girl too:-)

Well! What do you know! I thought you were very perceptive, Jules, when it came to pre-educational children's toys! We really are being taken over, fellows. What on earth remains sacrosanct - heaven, you say, oh thank goodness for that! lol! Typical man, laughs at his own jokes!

Eric

EW... I'm very good at multi tasking:-)

Jules, here's wishing you well with the upcoming Op. We expect to hear from you on progress. John

john.. not me yet but moneyplus who is having the replacement.

Don't worry, Jules, John is mere man and all legs are the same to him! Eric

Oops, apologies Jules and good luck MoneyPlus...not sure though that all legs are the same to me, perhaps to Eric, but then again!! John

Continuing the Technicals, all previous provisos remain:

IDOX: Current SP around 11p and seems to have a entered a slight uptrend over the last 6 months bounded by 12.75 to 9.42p. Always difficult to say what will happen next to the SP of such a small cap share that seems to be range bound. Current trend is down and I would place my SL at the lower bound of the channel.

AUG: Remains in a strong uptrend, with an upper target of 290p and beyond. Currently looking to push higher.

SPS: Brushing aside the glories of Year 2000 where the SP hit a peak approaching 6 we are now looking for support at the 200 day ma around 45p, which is where I would place my SL if you are mindful to do so. All indicators suggest further falls from here.

CIU: Taking a long term view we have a slow fall from a SP high of 280p in June '94 to a low of 5p in Nov 02, since then we have a wonderful, almost linear uptrend currently sitting at 168p. I see an upper resistance level at 200p+ Indicators currently recovering from overbought levels and I would use the 50 day MA as a SL, currently at 155p.

NRG: This stock really took off in Aug 2003. Using that trend line there is uptrend support at 190p which is where I would place my SL. Although current trend is down it is unlikely to fall back that far and has a target at present of 260p+ but needs to get through 231p on a 2 day basis first.

CASH: In Jan/Feb the SP made a lower high when failing to break through the 144p level. All indicators are for further SP falls so I think a safe SL would be the 50 day ma currently at 129p.

XEN: Well another fallen angel from the high's of Y2000 where the SP hit 450p and currently sits at 7.3p. With the 50 day ma at 7.1p (SL?) I would be watching developments very closely over the next few days.

FTO: Here we have an Oil company that for some reason has not yet really taken off. The SP is currently becalmed around 8 -8.5p. I see support at 7p and it needs to get back up through 10p to start flying again.

NMC: Unable to find data...

TND: Currently hitting the resistance line of a slow uptrend bounded by 24.7 and 18.1p. Needs to break through 25p on a 2 day basis and gather steam. Slightly overbought on the indicators but with small caps anything is possible.

PAY: A strong uptrend remains in place. I note a failure to get through the 268p peak recently, but on balance I would say the stock will try again in due course. SL at the recent low of 238p seems reasonable as it went through the 50 day ma decisively recently and found this level, presumably to bounce out some Bulls!

BNH: 140p resistance level and support kicking in at 105p. All indicators currently nuetral to negative. We still have the uptrend in place but the SP action over the last month is not encouraging.

PMD: Profile Media Group I think...almost impossible to call. There are some signs of encouragement though for the Bulls and the patient.

KYS: Not enough data to form a view that really means anthting except to say that the SP has been in a downtrend ever since it came to market.

EPD: The 50 day ma presents a perfect SL (well perhaps a couple of pts below). The SP has demonstrated some positive upsigns this year but overall it remains in the long term downtrend of the past few years. There is clearly some resistance to break through in the 55p zone before we could really say that EPD is chaging direction.

As promised earlier this wekk I will finish the analysis of all the choices by close of play tomorrow. If I missed anything please advise. Meanwhile I note that when I last posted the FTSE Small Cap was riding close to an all time high, since which we have seen some retracement...this is a good sign IMO, as I still see the 2005 growth being in small caps, although perhaps not in the hope and glory stocks!

John